Corydalis solida comes in many colors: in the right corner is ‘Purple Bird’, in the middle is pink ‘Beth Evans’, and in the left corner is brick red ‘George P. Baker’.

As the hellebores bloom in my garden, they do not stand alone but are surrounded by large swathes of spring ephemerals. These are plants that come up in the spring to take advantage of the available sun before the leaves come out and then go dormant for the year as it gets hot. I especially appreciate their vibrant colors at a time of year when spring is here, but the weather is not necessarily warm and sunny.

Nursery News: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.

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‘George P. Baker’

All the plants shown here are in bloom now or just about to bloom. They are very easy to plant and grow. And best of all they spread by themselves to form large patches in the years after you plant them. Spring ephemerals don’t take up any room as they can be interplanted with hostas, ferns, and other perennials that come up later and fill in the space. They are also great for the backs of beds that are empty and visible before other plants emerge.

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This riot of color is going on in my woods right now as various shades of Corydalis solida bloom with hellebores.

Here are some more suggestions for plants that will achieve this early spring bounty in your garden—all available at Carolyn’s Shade Gardens this weekend:

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Snow crocus, C. tommasinianus, bloom with the snowdrops, and you can’t beat the color of ‘Ruby Giant’.

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‘Ruby Giant’ with white hellebores, a match made in heaven.

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Pale blue squill, Scilla mischtschenkoana, is the earliest blooming of the group, here with Dutchman’s breeches.

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Winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis, blooms with the snowdrops.

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Snowdrops and winter aconite are the most beautiful sight in my late winter garden.

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After it blooms, winter aconite’s elegant foliage makes a great backdrop for hellebores and Corydalis solida.

Glory-of-the-snow spreads quickly to form large patches. It looks especially beautiful under my star magnolia right now.

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The lovely leaves of U.S. native dogtooth violets, Erythronium, are appearing now and the earliest varieties are blooming. Although they look delicate, they are as tough as nails and come back in my woodland year after year.

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I can see the dark purple leaves of native Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica, emerging from the mulch. I can’t get enough of its porcelain blue flowers, here with native Celandine poppy.

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European wood anemones are also getting ready to pop. The earliest is yellow-flowered Anemone ranunculoides, but they also come in pink and white.

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‘Wyatt’s Pink’ European wood anemone is quite rare and beautiful.

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The elegant flower of ‘Bractiata’ European wood anemone.

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All these flowers keep me going through the cold wet days of early spring. Add them to your own garden to beat the winter doldrums and signal that the end is in sight.

Carolyn

Nursery Happenings: Our first event is the Hellebore Extravaganza this Saturday, April 11, from 10 am to 3 pm. However, you can stop by anytime by appointment to purchase hellebores and other plants.

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 6b/7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.

Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.

Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.

Nursery News:Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.

When I stopped trying to keep all my Corydalis solida separate and let the colors hybridize, this is what I got.

In May of 2011, I wrote a post titledLetting Go Part 1: The Lawn. It is a well-documented discussion of why gardeners should get rid of their lawns and let what lawn remains go “natural”. At the time I intended to write another article about letting go of garden beds, but time got away from me.

I was inspired to get back to the topic by reading a gorgeous book on bulbs given to me by one of my customers. Not to digress, but I have the nicest customers who constantly send me articles, bring homemade food, send beautiful cards and letters sometimes hand drawn (one customer is a professional calligrapher), and write complimentary and encouraging emails. Thanks to you all.

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This book was no ordinary gift but a 400 page hardcover book with over 300 color plates. It is called Buried Treasures and was written by Janis Ruksans. Ruksans is an internationally famous nurseryman and plant explorer with a mail order nursery specializing in unusual bulbs and located in Latvia. He has introduced hundreds of bulbs and one of his focuses is Corydalis solida (first photo), which happens to be one of my favorite plants.

As I read his book, I was struck by what he said about naturalizing bulbs:

“There are two different kinds of naturalization. The first kind occurs when you plant your bulbs so they will look as natural as possible. The second kind is the real thing, which will happen only if your bulbs start to reproduce by self-sowing.… Some of the most beautiful displays happen in spots where bulbs … have been left to develop naturally.”

As simple as this statement appears, many gardeners have trouble applying this concept to their gardens because it requires letting go. You are no longer in control of where plants appear and how they combine with each other. I know because it took me years to embrace it myself.

However, once I let go of deciding where bulbs (and many perennials) could grow, I believe that my garden reached a whole new level of interest and beauty. Ruksans’s book inspired me to write this post about the bulbs, including tubers, corms, and other bulb allies, that spread well in my garden. If you feel inclined to let go, here are some of the bulbs that work the best.

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Siberian squill, Scilla siberica, provides a splash of early brilliant blue and moves all over the garden, even into the lawn.

There are hardly any beds in my garden that do not sport Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica, in early spring. All I planted was the original clump given to me by a good friend many years ago.

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Wood anemones, including Anemone ranunculoides pictured above with Virginia bluebells, have been allowed to form gigantic patches in my woodland.

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European wood anemones, A. nemorosa, are a favorite, including ‘Alba Plena’.

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My woodland with wood anemones and bluebells.

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Glory-of-the-snow, Chionodoxa forbesii, is everywhere even the formal beds by the front door. It doesn’t take up any “room” because it goes dormant and perennials can be planted right in it.

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‘Pink Giant’ is the pink cultivar of glory-of-the-snow, and it too plants itself wherever it wants.

The most wonderful result of my new relaxed approach came from Corydalis solida, a plant with no real common name. It is a bulbous corydalis, which comes up very early in spring and dies back shortly after flowering. Unlike the colorful herbaceous corydalis that never come back due to our hot summers, this corydalis returns year after year without fuss and even self-sows. Here are a few of its cultivars:

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‘George P. Baker’

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C. solida subsp. incisa

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‘Blushing Girl’ selected by Jans Ruksans.

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‘Beth Evans’

All four cultivars are very beautiful in their own right, and at first I kept them separate so they would stay pure. However, when I let go and nature took its course, the results were amazing. Now I have a rainbow of corydalis.

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Cordalis solida left to its own devices.

Although I have a large garden, this is not a technique limited to big spaces. Any garden bed full of perennials or any area beneath trees and shrubs is perfect for naturalizing bulbs. Just give them a free hand after you get them started.

Carolyn

Nursery Happenings: Our third sale is Saurday, April 26, from 10 am to 3 pm. Customers on our list will get an email with all the details. You can sign up to receive emails by sending your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Coming soon is a shrub offer. If you have any shrubs you want, please email me at carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a local retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, U.S., zone 7a. The only plants that we mail order are snowdrops and miniature hostas and only within the US.

If you are within visiting distance and would like to receive catalogues and information about customer events, please send your full name and phone number to carolynsshadegardens@verizon.net. Subscribing to my blog does not sign you up to receive this information.

Facebook: Carolyn’s Shade Gardens has a Facebook Page where I post single photos, garden tips, and other information that doesn’t fit into a blog post. You can look at my Facebook page here or click the Like button on my right sidebar here.

Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.) or to subscribe to my blog, just click here.

Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery located in Bryn Mawr, PA, specializing in showy, colorful, and unusual plants for shade. The only plants that we ship are snowdrops and miniature hostas. For catalogues and announcements of events, please send your full name, location, and phone number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Click here to get to the home page of our website for catalogues and information about our nursery and to subscribe to our blog.

It is time to walk around your garden again and assess what you need to add to make the beginning of spring an exciting time in your landscape. Do you need moreearly-blooming hellebores, to give you a reason to go outside? Could your garden benefit from flowers that bloom in early March likehardy cyclamen,snow crocus, or snowdropsto relieve the gray?

Make a list and take photographs so that when you are shopping this spring you know what you need and where it should go. I know it’s still pretty cold outside, but you never know what you might find to end the winter doldrums like the beautiful double-flowered hellebore (pictured above), which I discovered during my own inventory. More photos of my blooming plants are included at the end.

As you entered the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show, you walked under a very large replica of the lower half of the Eiffel Tower

If you need ideas, there is no better place to go in the mid-Atlantic this time of year than the 2011 Philadelphia International Flower Show. It is the largest indoor flower show in the world. This year’s theme was “Springtime in Paris”, and the designers went all out. I sent photos of some of the weirder stuff to Cheri atAlong Life’s Highway The Yard Art Game, and you can see them by clicking here. But I found the following displays and entries inspirational for my own garden:

There is nothing more beautiful than an individual well grown plant

A new idea for my sedum displays, which are fantastic in containers

Inspiration to upgrade my troughs

I need an elegant metal gate for my walled compost area

Simple can be very beautiful

Today is Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day for March when gardeners around the world show photos of what’s blooming in their gardens (follow the link to see photographs from other garden bloggers assembled by Carol atMay Dreams Gardens). Here are some more highlights from my mid-March stroll through Carolyn’s Shade Gardens:

Winter aconite, Eranthis hyemalis

Very early-blooming Tubergen squill, Scilla mischtschenkoana

My original snow crocus, Crocus tommasinianus, which is rodent resistant, has multiplied into thousands of plants

Winter jasmine, Jasminum nudiflorum, has no scent but makes up for it by blooming so early

Winter-blooming hardy cyclamen, Cyclamen coum ‘Rose’

I want to include hundreds of hellebore photos but am limiting myself to some really special plants:

The rare species Helleborus purpurascens

The flower of Helleborus purpurascens

Another even rarer species Helleborus viridis: inspired by Laura at PatioPatch, I am dedicating this flower to the people of Japan because green is the color for hope

Some of the thousands of common snowdrops, Galanthus nivalis, which have multiplied on my property since the 1800s:

Common snowdrop with Italian arum, Arum italicum ‘Pictum’

Common snowdrop with Heuchera ‘Creme Brulee’ displaying its winter color

Some of my very special snowdrop cultivars:

Double-flowered Galanthus ‘Ophelia’

The unusual species with pleated leaves, Galanthus plicatus subsp. byzantinus

Galanthus ‘Lady Beatrix Stanley’

The crazy upward facing double, Galanthus nivalis ‘Blewbury Tart’

The double-flowered common snowdrop, Galanthus nivalis ‘Flore Pleno’

The only yellow-flowered double, Galanthus nivalis ‘Lady Elphinstone’

A beautiful yellow snowdrop, Galanthus plicatus ‘Wendy’s Gold’

Please let me know in a comment/reply what flowers are blooming in your early spring garden. If you participated in GBBD, please provide a link so my nursery customers can read your post.

Carolyn

Notes: Every word that appears in orange on my blog is a link that you can click for more information. If you want to return to my blog’s homepage to access the sidebar information (catalogues, previous articles, etc.), just click here.

Nursery Happenings: I have five spaces left for my March 19 Hellebore Seminar (March 18 is sold out). For the brochure and registration information, click here. My first open house sale is Saturday, March 26, from 10 am to 3 pm, featuring hellebores and other winter-blooming plants.

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Carolyn’s Shade Gardens is a retail nursery in Bryn Mawr, PA, U.S., zone 6b/7a. If you are interested in shopping here, send me an email with your full name, location, and cell number (for back up use only) to carolyn@carolynsshadegardens.com. Current catalogues are under Pages below. The only plants we ship are snowdrops to US customers.

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